Report from backstage with Metallica

Just returned from Fresno, where I got to catch Metallica’s set Saturday at the Save Mart Arena after sitting down for 20 minutes each with Kirk Hammett and Lars Ulrich. Both guys were nice and tried hard to give thoughtful answers in what must have been their umpteenth interviews since the release of “Death Magnetic.” Kirk was more than a little groggy after flying in from his home in San Francisco, where he had been woken up early byÂ his two young children. “I’m trying to juggle rock stardom and parenthood,” he said as he sipped a cup of tea. Lars was more energetic and outgoing and quick to laugh. For what it’s worth, they’re both surprisingly small in person — pound for pound, these are the two most powerful men in hard rock.Â

The scene backstage was calm and organized, as the road crew and representatives from the band’s HQ in Marin County escorted the four members around to various radio and print interviews and meet-and-greets with fans (and a massage for bassist Robert Trujillo). I didn’t see any strippers guzzling Jagermeister, or even roadies drinking beer. What I was allowed to see, anyway,Â was just a friendly, efficient workplace — it’s just one that gets re-created in a different arena every night.

Over the 40 minutes of chatting we touchedÂ on the two musicians’ love of the Bay Area (including Kirk’s adventures in San Jose as a boy), the Napster controversy, criticism of the extraordinarily loud mix of the band’s “Death Magnetic” album, the switch of producers from Bob Rock to Rick Rubin, how new guy Robert Trujillo is fitting in, the joys of parenthood and the upcoming “Guitar Hero: Metallica” game.

As promised, I also squeezed in two questions for Lars from you, the readers. The first one was from Michael B.:

Q: Is there a different vibe when you come back and play the Bay Area (Fresno/Oakland)? If so, how do you approach the sets during those shows differently, if at all?

A: Biggest thing about coming home and playing the Bay Area is managing the 250 guestsÂ – people that show up out of the woodwork. It’s like, I didn’t know we had so many friends (laughing). No, it’s always great playing at home. I mean, ever since we started playing at the old Waldorf and Mab and everything 25 years ago, there’s always a pride in playing up here, whether we play the Fillmore or the stadium or open for the Stones or whatever we do. I don’t really approach the sets that much different. I always try to make set lists that were different from the last time we played in that city and from the lastÂ couple of shows we played in that week. I always change sets for the hundreds of fans that travel with us wherever we go.Â

Q: (from John R.L.): Do you guys ever get tired of having to make angry animal-like faces to the cameras for all the magazine photos?

A: (cracking up) No, no. I don’t know, there’s something about when the four us get in front of a camera, your age drops about 25 years in about 30 seconds. It’s OK. I don’t mind acting like a 17-year-old when I’m in front of the camera.

I’ll have a full-length feature based on the interviews and the show in the ink-and-paper Mercury News and at mercurynews.com on Thursday.

About the show: The band — which will perform a sold-out show Saturday at Oakland’s Oracle Arena — was in fine form, playing on a stage in the middle of the floor with the exuberant Lars at center stage on a circular drum riser. The 15,000 seats were nearly full, and several hundred standing fans squeezed in around the enormous stage on the floor, which had enough room left over at one end for a circle pit to spring up during “Master of Puppets.”

“That Was Just Your Life” kicked off the show with a web of multi-colored laser beams outlining the stage. Singer James Hetfield worked the crowd from eight microphones scattered around the edge, while Trujillo and Hammett prowled restlessly. Later, some red-hot pyrotechnics spurted from the stage, and overhead a bunch of mobile coffin-shaped lighting doodads created an ever-shifting visual accompaniment.Â

But the focus was squarely on the music, not on empty spectacle or dropping F-bombs and flashing devil horns (Lamb of God, I’m looking at you). The music was loud, darkÂ and heavy, but the overall feeling was upbeat — another gathering of “the Metallica family,” as Hetfield said several times.

I could go on longer, but I’ll save the rest for my story. Plus, that Giants-Cowboys game ought to be good.

Here’s the set list:

That Was Just Your Life
The End Of The Line
Creeping Death
Wherever I May Roam
One
Broken, Beat And Scarred
Cyanide
Sad But True
The Unforgiven
All Nightmare Long
The Day That Never Comes
Master Of Puppets
Fight Fire With Fire
Nothing Else Matters
Enter Sandman
- – - – - – - -
Last Caress
Motorbreath
Seek and Destroy